Thomas Partey Named in Ghana's World Cup Squad Despite Pending Trial

When Carlos Queiroz finalised Ghana's 26-man World Cup squad, the most consequential decision was not tactical. It was whether to retain Thomas Partey after the midfielder pleaded not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault, relating to allegations made by four different women covering a period between 2020 and 2022. Queiroz included him. Ghana Football Association president Kurt Okraku made clear that position was not arrived at reluctantly.

"Thomas is our vice-captain. He is one of the top midfielders in the world and we stand by him shoulder to shoulder," Okraku told BBC Sport. The language is unambiguous: this is institutional backing rather than a cautious non-commitment, and it places the GFA firmly on record in a case that will return to public scrutiny when the trial begins next year. The 32-year-old, who left Arsenal last summer after his contract expired and now plays for Villarreal in La Liga, made 167 appearances for the Gunners between 2020 and 2025. He remains, regardless of the legal cloud, the most experienced and decorated player in this Ghana squad. That experience matters in concrete terms: Partey's ability to screen the defence and dictate tempo from deep is a function not easily replicated by anyone else available to Queiroz.

What makes the selection particularly significant is the forum: a World Cup, broadcast globally, with Ghana's opening match against Panama in Toronto on 17 June followed by fixtures against England in Boston and Croatia in Philadelphia. Every press conference Queiroz attends from now until the knockout rounds will carry the question of Partey, whether or not football journalists intend it. The GFA's pre-emptive public solidarity may be designed to deflect precisely that distraction, but it is just as likely to amplify it.

A Squad Built on European Depth

Strip away the Partey story and what Queiroz has assembled is a genuinely broad selection pulling from leagues across Europe and beyond. The goalkeeping options alone span the League of Ireland, Swiss Super League, and the Greek top flight, with Joseph Anang of St Patrick's Athletic joining Lawrence Ati-Zigi and Benjamin Asare as the three stoppers. Anang's inclusion from the League of Ireland Premier Division will raise a few eyebrows in terms of tournament readiness, but his presence reflects the depth of the pool Queiroz is fishing from rather than any weakness of ambition.

In attack, Antoine Semenyo arrives having made the move to Manchester City, and his inclusion alongside Iñaki Williams, Ernest Nuamah, and Kamaldeen Sulemana gives Ghana a forward line with genuine pace and variety. Brandon Thomas-Asante, who has been consistent at Coventry City in the Championship, offers a more physical alternative. The Leicester City pair of Jordan Ayew and Abdul Fatawu Issahaku add Premier League experience to the attacking options, as does the presence of Williams, who represents Ghana having previously committed to Spain.

The one notable absentee through injury rather than selection is Mohammed Kudus. The Tottenham winger has been out of action since January with a quad injury and misses the tournament entirely. Kudus is the kind of direct, unpredictable wide player who could have caused considerable problems for any defence in Group L. His absence is not a minor inconvenience; it is a genuine tactical blow that reshapes how Queiroz must approach the wide areas. Without Kudus's ability to carry the ball at defenders in tight spaces, Ghana's attack becomes more dependent on combination play and the movement of their full-backs to create width, which in turn places greater demand on a defensive unit that is already navigating its own disruptions.

Djiku's Injury and the Defensive Reshuffle

The defensive shape has been altered by circumstance as much as by Queiroz's preference. Centre-back Alexander Djiku suffered a hamstring injury as his Spartak Moscow side won the Russian Cup final on 24 May, ruling him out of the tournament. His replacement is Derrick Luckassen, a Netherlands-born defender who made his Ghana debut as recently as March. Asking a player with so few international appearances to step into a World Cup squad as cover is a risk, but the options available to Queiroz in the centre-back positions are limited, and Luckassen at least brings top-level club experience. The concern is not so much Luckassen's individual quality as the absence of the defensive familiarity that Djiku would have offered alongside more established partners.

The wider defensive unit carries genuine quality at full-back, with Baba Abdul Rahman, Gideon Mensah, Alidu Seidu, and Marvin Senaya all comfortable at club level in leagues of reasonable standard. Whether they can contain the width that England and Croatia will deploy is a different question, and one that the friendly against Wales in Cardiff on 2 June will offer an early, partial answer to.

What Group L Actually Demands

Ghana's draw is instructive. Panama, on paper, represents their most accessible route to points in the group stage, but England and Croatia are a sharp step up in quality, organisation, and tournament experience. Ghana's best chance of progressing lies in accumulating something from the Panama fixture and then asking difficult questions of whoever faces them next. Partey, at 32 and carrying the experience of 58 international caps, is central to any coherent midfield structure Queiroz can build around. Without him, the balance of experience in the middle of the pitch drops considerably. His value is not just technical; a disciplined defensive midfielder who can also progress the ball reduces the pressure on Ghana's back line and gives the more attack-minded players in the squad licence to commit forward. That functional role is harder to replace than a creative one.

There is also a question of how the squad responds to the noise surrounding Partey off the pitch. Teams that navigate that kind of distraction without internal fracture are usually ones with strong collective identity and clear captaincy. Partey's vice-captaincy role means that identity is partly anchored to him. Whether that is a stabilising force or an additional pressure point will only become clear once the tournament begins.

Verdict: Selection Made, Scrutiny Incoming

Queiroz and the GFA have made their position plain. Partey travels to the World Cup as vice-captain, and Okraku's public endorsement leaves no room for ambiguity about how Ghana's football establishment views the situation ahead of next year's trial. The football logic for including a player of his quality and experience is straightforward; the reputational calculation is considerably more complicated, and that tension will follow this squad from Cardiff to Toronto and beyond.

What Ghana have, regardless of the headlines, is a squad with meaningful attacking options, a tested defensive structure disrupted by one significant injury, and a central midfield axis that leans heavily on their most experienced figure. Group L will not yield easily. But Ghana, as they have shown at previous tournaments, are capable of surpassing expectations when the group holds together.

Sources: Reporting draws on UK and international sports press coverage of the Ghana World Cup squad announcement, with squad details and competition fixtures verified against official FIFA and Ghana FA records.